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Corporate Intelligence, Information Gathering, Information Analysis, Global Intelligence, Global BusinessTue, 31 Mar 2015 13:09:30 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1Corporate Intelligence, Information Gathering, Information Analysis, Global Intelligence, Global BusinessArmada IntelligencenoCorporate Intelligence, Information Gathering, Information Analysis, Global Intelligence, Global BusinessArmada Intelligence » Otherhttp://www.armada-intel.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpghttp://www.armada-intel.com/category/raw-materials/other
A Commodity Roundup. $http://www.armada-intel.com/a-commodity-roundup.html
http://www.armada-intel.com/a-commodity-roundup.html#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2015 15:35:36 +0000http://www.armada-intel.com/?p=31728Here’s one of the reasons why we haven’t been really writing much about commodities: the story is a broken record since the beginning of the year. A lot of it can be blamed on a really strong dollar, but a lack of global demand is also part of the story. But the bottom line is that just about everything is down across the metals, grains, and livestock sectors, at least for now. Again, we are going to take a position that a drop in prices is going to affect companies differently. Some will love lower commodity prices – others will see it as a financial headwind.
]]>http://www.armada-intel.com/a-commodity-roundup.html/feed0Bloomberg Commodity Index Flirts with All-Time Lows.http://www.armada-intel.com/bloomberg-commodity-index-flirts-with-all-time-lows.html
http://www.armada-intel.com/bloomberg-commodity-index-flirts-with-all-time-lows.html#commentsWed, 11 Mar 2015 22:16:46 +0000http://www.armada-intel.com/?p=31517The Bloomberg Commodity Index is a conglomeration of the most important commodities and is probably a bit too generic for most of you. But, it is important to note that the index closed at 99.14, just .22 points from its all-time low of 98.92.

You can see in the 5 year chart at right from Bloomberg that the index has steadily dropped over the past 9 months. Much of this will be due to the strong US dollar as we mentioned earlier in today’s brief.

Keep an eye on key commodities – and we will continue to report out on big trends that we see.

]]>http://www.armada-intel.com/bloomberg-commodity-index-flirts-with-all-time-lows.html/feed0The Drop in Commodities in One Data Point $http://www.armada-intel.com/the-drop-in-commodities-in-one-data-point.html
http://www.armada-intel.com/the-drop-in-commodities-in-one-data-point.html#commentsWed, 01 Oct 2014 17:22:32 +0000http://www.armada-intel.com/?p=28855There was a big drop in commodity prices today. More details on specific commodities below. But, when we try to understand why there was a big drop-off in these commodities – we can look to one chart. The dollar continues to gain strength against a bucket of foreign commodities –
]]>http://www.armada-intel.com/the-drop-in-commodities-in-one-data-point.html/feed0EPA to go in front of Supreme Court $http://www.armada-intel.com/epa-to-go-in-front-of-supreme-court.html
http://www.armada-intel.com/epa-to-go-in-front-of-supreme-court.html#commentsWed, 16 Oct 2013 18:06:00 +0000http://www.armada-intel.com/?p=22326The EPA will have its efforts to curb emissions in power plants and factories challenged at the Supreme Court level. Lower courts of appeals have ruled that the agency has the authority to take emissions standards on greenhouse gases levied at the automotive sector and apply the same standards to other air pollutants in non-moving applications – such as those emitted from power plants and factories as mentioned. Just the notion that the court has agreed to take up the case signaled different things to different people.

Those who are looking for more greenhouse gas regulation were pleased that the Supreme Court could

]]>http://www.armada-intel.com/epa-to-go-in-front-of-supreme-court.html/feed0Cement Prices Volatile and Unpredictable $http://www.armada-intel.com/cement-prices-volatile-and-unpredictable.html
http://www.armada-intel.com/cement-prices-volatile-and-unpredictable.html#commentsWed, 17 Apr 2013 14:58:00 +0000http://www.armada-intel.com/?p=18795Cement might as well be gold in places like Saudi Arabia and across many sectors in Asia. The Saudi King will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in creating new cement production facilities in what they are calling a “crisis” of supply in the country. The King has also authorized the importation of more than 10 million tons of cement to allow current construction projects to continue uninterrupted in the meantime.

In the United States, cement prices are varied across various regions. In the Midwest for instance, there are some

]]>http://www.armada-intel.com/cement-prices-volatile-and-unpredictable.html/feed0Concrete Canvas Field Shelter $http://www.armada-intel.com/concrete-canvas-field-shelter.html
http://www.armada-intel.com/concrete-canvas-field-shelter.html#commentsWed, 03 Apr 2013 20:23:20 +0000http://www.armada-intel.com/?p=18476Now that we are seeing some interesting investment by businesses in technology and new innovative products, we may run some of them from time to time. A source of ours made us aware of the item in the picture to the right, the Concrete Canvas Shelter. A short 2:30 video gives you an idea of what this thing can do – it is pretty amazing http://www.wimp.com/concretetents/. Unfortunately, if you have kids like I do, you may have been in a situation where the canvas plaster cast was used to set a broken bone. They wrap the area of the body needing the splint, then wet it and allow it to quickly cure. It hardens quickly, is lightweight prior to wetting, and flexible enough to bend around curves and rounded areas prior to hardening. This building construction takes that concept, using concrete instead of plaster, and applies it to a structured shell that is easily transported, fairly lightweight, and compact (a number of these would fit inside a semi-trailer.

Here is how it works: A canvas form is delivered on a pallet to a location. An air compressor/blower inflates the “tent” to its full size and once inflated, a worker takes a hose and

]]>http://www.armada-intel.com/concrete-canvas-field-shelter.html/feed0Weaker US dollar Impacting most Commodities $http://www.armada-intel.com/weaker-us-dollar-impacting-most-commodities.html
http://www.armada-intel.com/weaker-us-dollar-impacting-most-commodities.html#commentsWed, 16 Jan 2013 20:02:18 +0000http://www.armada-intel.com/?p=17042There isn’t a lot of news to tell on the long-term impact of a weaker US dollar. Economic activity is volatile enough that we don’t have a great idea of what to expect for the dollar moving forward. However, a drop in the dollar today helped to boost
]]>http://www.armada-intel.com/weaker-us-dollar-impacting-most-commodities.html/feed0Baltic Dry Index Update – Slow Improvement of Bulk Rates $http://www.armada-intel.com/baltic-dry-index-update-slow-improvement-of-bulk-rates.html
http://www.armada-intel.com/baltic-dry-index-update-slow-improvement-of-bulk-rates.html#commentsTue, 08 May 2012 12:28:59 +0000http://www.armada-intel.com/?p=12922Those of you who have been with us a while know that we track the Baltic Dry Index closely and that it has been hit hard since the spring of 2009 with an overcapacity issue. We have seen a slight improvement in the index over the past quarter albeit slow. The chart at right from Bloomberg of the BDI shows the 5-year trend in the BDI. The index hit highs of about 11,000 in the summer of 2008 when oil prices spiked to $147 a barrel and had fallen to less than 667 points by the following January. This year, in the first quarter, we have seen the index hit a new decade low of 649 points, only to climb back out of that to today’s level of 1,157 points.

Capacity has been taken out of the bulk maritime shipping industry to some degree as we covered last week. The bottom line for corporations and those that are sourcing bulk raw materials from abroad is that shipping prices are inching up. That’s the primary take-away from the rising index. We are hearing and seeing a similar trend on

]]>http://www.armada-intel.com/baltic-dry-index-update-slow-improvement-of-bulk-rates.html/feed0Durable Goods Ordershttp://www.armada-intel.com/durable-goods-orders.html
http://www.armada-intel.com/durable-goods-orders.html#commentsFri, 27 Apr 2012 12:09:38 +0000http://www.armada-intel.com/?p=12620The Durable Goods Orders for March were a mixed bag of sorts. The highlights below from our friends at TranSystems provides an executive summary of the findings:

Total orders fell 4.2%, the largest drop in three years. But, [This content is for MEMBERS ONLY. Please click Subscribe in the upper right corner to continue.]
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http://www.armada-intel.com/durable-goods-orders.html/feed0Whirlpool Threw Caution to the Markethttp://www.armada-intel.com/whirlpool-threw-caution-to-the-market.html
http://www.armada-intel.com/whirlpool-threw-caution-to-the-market.html#commentsThu, 26 Apr 2012 17:59:40 +0000http://www.armada-intel.com/?p=12642In today’s Whirlpool earnings report, the company did warn that sales for the rest of the year will likely be a bit weaker than expected. That doesn’t fit with what we saw in the forecast from the Industrial Production Index released last week – showing that Durable Consumer Goods would grow annually at 17.6%. Some of the IPI figure from the Fed would include other non-white goods that also qualify as durables. But, of additional interest is that Whirlpool said prices for most of their products would start to rise because of an increase in raw material prices. That might be the biggest take-away for us.
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